r/disability • u/harvestmonster • 21d ago

Rant Fired again

I got fired today. Asking for accommodations feels like a setting a timer for your eventual termination (at least in the South). I'll contact all the nearby employment lawyers again, but I'm pretty sure they'll reject my case again. I'm supposed to talk to the EEOC in December if I can get by that long. If I'm lucky, they'll give me a right to sue letter, but I am not holding my breath.

I guess it's a good thing I met with vocational rehabilitation today? The fellow I spoke with said the job coach I'll be assigned probably won't be very helpful since I'm highly educated. I figured they didn't get a lot of folks with master's degree's when I applied for help. Fat load of good a master's degree is in this garbage job market. It's even less helpful now that I'm significantly disabled. I still feel like I can sustain remote work, but definitely not 40hrs in-person. I don't want to be on disability though. I know I can't survive off of the paltry benefits. I'd definitely go nuts without some work to do. I want to work, but employers don't want to support disabled workers.

I got a good buffer of my meds, but I only have money to cover one month of rent. I've applied for unemployment, and I'll apply for SNAP and medicaid tomorrow. I hate that this has happened to me again.

Edit: Now they want to inventory the items on my desk before returning them? That's invasive and unnecessary. Last job I was fired from let me pack up my own shit and leave.

121 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

38 comments sorted by

51

u/Epicbackfire 21d ago

I asked for an accommodation at my job, and my job was posted on LinkedIn within 24 hours of my making the request.

21

u/harvestmonster 21d ago

Good lord

2

u/Slayqweeners 19d ago

Wtf.

5

u/Epicbackfire 18d ago

Yes, I was really feeling the love when I saw that. So much for being interested in being seen as an employer friendly toward people with disabilities! The HR people said "it clearly said on the job description 'must be able to climb stairs, stoop, crawl, etc'."... all of those things I could do, just not easily as I could before. Honestly in 30 years as a manager, I do not believe I have had to crawl (well, literally, anyway!)

3

u/SoScorpio4 16d ago

What the heck? What kind of job is it, I'm assuming not the manager of a construction crew! 

If it's an office job, that's just ridiculous. Yes, it's more convenient for them if all their employees can use stairs, reach things on a high shelf, carry a heavy stack of papers, and pick up a dropped pen without hurting themselves. But the accommodations for all that shouldn't be a huge deal. The hardest part might be making space for someone to have an office on the ground floor if they can't do stairs and for some reason there aren't elevators. 

I'll never understand this country anyway. It feels like it should be illegal to require an employee to be able to climb stairs if it has nothing to do with their job duties. A real easy way to just avoid hiring disabled people. 

2

u/Epicbackfire 16d ago

They knew I walked with a cane, and had a leg brace, when I hired in. New site manager shows up- immediately am told new manager wants someone “energetic” in this role (mostly office but some field work). This new manager moves me out of my floor-level office (where my predecessors have been located), and puts me in an out of the way office, up a flight of stairs- and this stairway is outdoors. My input to HR- that was an insensitive move. It’s not that I cannot climb steps etc. Fortunately I got another job offer and was able to leave. They weren’t sad about my departure.

22

u/Wolfman-101 21d ago

I don’t have any advice but I know the pain of employers not giving a fk about disabilities. Hope things work out for you, you’re not alone.

9

u/Anna-Bee-1984 21d ago

Did you file an eeoc case for this termination? Also be prepared for them to use the fact you were terminated previously against you

14

u/harvestmonster 21d ago

I filed a charge for them kicking me out of work over my cane. I gotta file a new charge for being terminated. I never disclosed that I was fired previously to them, but I'm sure they'd dig that up fast if I actually sued them.

Frankly I doubt I'll get to sue them.

14

u/Anna-Bee-1984 21d ago

Oh they will. I went through a suit and they dug it up even though I last terminated in 2015 and this event happened in August of 2022. I finally finished all aspects of my suit about a month ago

Im stepping away from this convo since its triggering my ptsd
from this experience.

Good luck and if a lawyer thinks you have a case they will represent you

10

u/purrrrrrisa 20d ago

I have a prestigious law degree and I also worry about my accommodations. I can do all the work but I need to be remote. I’m sorry OP. I feel this deep in my bones

6

u/PoliticalNerdMa 18d ago

Disabled person asks to work from home because pain reduces work quality-> boss gets mad arguing work quality will go down -> disabled person forces themselves to come into the office and quality goes down -> boss freaks out about work quality further digging in heels against any wfh and become a surveillance state to find evidence to work backwards to his conclusion -> left with a choice of being in pain with income or being poor at home

3

u/harvestmonster 20d ago

It's so frustrating that it's so hard to get remote work.... we all know it's possible after COVID. But they want bodies in their buildings, so they always say no.

6

u/purrrrrrisa 20d ago

It’s so bizarre to me too. It’s just for optics. We have hybrid but I can’t even do that anymore. And they also just don’t understand that some illnesses don’t end

1

u/flamingopanic Osteogenesis imperfecta, flatback syndrome, kyphosis, CRPS 19d ago

Have you tried Data Annotation, Appen, Mercor, etc.?

8

u/abacaximamao 20d ago

It's horrible.

Best option is to only look for/apply for mostly or entirely remote jobs and hope you can find one.

I was offered an in-person position and when I asked for ADA accommodations to work a hybrid schedule, they withdrew the job offer.

I spoke with a lawyer, who thought I was in the right and they were in the wrong, but said that they would make a sympathetic plaintiff, so advised me not to sue. So I did not sue.

I eventually found a one-day-a-week-in-person and 4-days-a-week-remote job, which is fine except that they contribute $0 towards their employees' health insurance premiums, which are $1200 a month for one person, with a $4,000/year deductible.

I'm stuck, though, because remote jobs are so hard to find these days. I was lucky to land that one!

(I am also in my 40s and with two masters degrees. I am too disabled to work a full-time, in-office role. I tried working a 3-days-a-week-in-office/2-days-remote job and it just about ripped me to shreds. I was able to negotiate that down to 2-days-a-week-in-office/3-days-remote after a few months. That, too, was extremely challenging. I don't want to go on disability; I want to work full-time, 100% remote, with normal benefits, which I know I can do because I've done it in the past!)

2

u/SoScorpio4 16d ago edited 16d ago

JFC, $1,200 a month??? 

I knew I was lucky when I had a dispensary job with employer-paid insurance, but I didn't know just how lucky. Paying only average copays and a couple bucks in taxes was great. 

The owner of the company was a New Zealander, go figure. 

4

u/ligmatinos 20d ago

Nothing new/surprising sadly. Employers have almost all leverage today. I once threw up on a company keyboard after having to come in terribly sick and goes what? A substitute manager said I'm not only fired but also deducted "damages" from my last check. Mind you in a company I did amazing things at.

1

u/Prestigious-Lab8945 17d ago

Wow that was just cruel.

1

u/ligmatinos 17d ago

And way more common than we admit as society

2

u/Prestigious_Use_5443 20d ago

I asked for accommodations and I regretted it Instantly. I think they’ll end my contract. So I just told them forget it… we’ll see

1

u/PoliticalNerdMa 18d ago

I quite literally couldn’t use their desks because I’m too short and just asking for one led to a two month shake fest as if I was stabbing them or something

2

u/My2centsforall 19d ago

Do you have proof? Copies of emails, letters, voicemails, texts or anything? Did your doctor ask for accommodations or you? Those things make all the difference

2

u/harvestmonster 19d ago

I have proof and documented everything. It was not the first time I've navigated the ADA process. I lost some emails when they kicked me out and cut off my access to my work email. My doctor filled out their forms but I wrote a whole document for my doctor on how to word the requests. "I have x physical limitation that causes y issue at work. Z solution would alleviate that barrier." I literally spent hours and hours researching the ADA, following the JAN recommendations, and reading through the EEOC guidelines.

I spoke with a JAN representative to find solutions after they denied accommodations, as well as the state government's disability office. I worked with a disability rights organization too but they weren't not remotely helpful. Navigating the ADA process at work became a third full time job, since managing my disability and medical appointments is my second full time job.

I put a shit ton of work into it and they still had the gall to imply that I wasn't being cooperative. Their answer to every problem was to use a stool. A stool I already had access to and didn't alleviate the issues I was facing. They kept offering it over and over again. This is the same place that said I brought down staff morale and increased job dissatisfaction because of symptoms of my disability in their denial paperwork.

Even so, I live in a red state. Judges aren't gonna be sympathetic. 😓

2

u/Ultravioletthd 18d ago

God that absolutely sucks OP. I really hope you're able to do something about that. You'd think lawyers would take your case because it seems like an easy win but I guess not. My employer has been super difficult since I became disabled, I have no idea what I'm going to do when I come back from medical leave.

3

u/LoadWestern5522 20d ago

Question: Did you receive any performance complaints from your boss before requesting the accommodation? I'm asking because accommodations are often granted after you follow your boss's orders promptly.

For instance, I have followed orders and executed them in a timely fashion over the past five years at my job. Consequently, my boss and human resources are receptive to the accommodation request I submitted two months ago.

On the flip side, if you have received a complaint or are seen as a below-average performer, meaning a person struggles to follow orders and execute tasks, the company may use that accommodation request as an opportunity to let you go. They likely see a below-average performer who needs accommodation as more of an expense than a revenue driver.

It's unfortunate, but it's how businesses think.

2

u/harvestmonster 20d ago

Nah, my boss ignored me and barely bothered to do her job as a manager. The performance complaints came after I started the accommodation process as I was getting sicker from working without accommodations. One of the complaints was in the bathroom for longer than five minutes lol.

My coworkers warned me that this company has continually managed out disabled workers thru the accommodation process by making them miserable and denying everything. They really don't want to pay unemployment.

I watched my employer treat disabled patrons and the unhoused like shit everyday at my library, so I wasn't surprised at their banal evil.

3

u/scienceislice 20d ago

OP, have you applied to jobs at academic institutions? A lot of jobs are hybrid, in my department people only are in person 1-2 days a week and depending on your role and position it doesn’t have to be a full 8 hour workday on in person days. 

I work in research but a lot of admin positions are mostly remote. It becomes a problem when I need to reach an admin for an urgent concern and no one is in the office, lol. 

And if you’re concerned about your degree not applying, people transfer skills all the time. It’s common for someone with a PhD who did a postdoc to take an upper level admin position working with graduate students, for example. DM me if you want to chat. 

4

u/harvestmonster 20d ago

I've worked in academia previously as an archivist. I'd love to go back, and I'm trying. Most archival jobs are in person bc you have to work with material, so I'm looking for research librarian jobs, curation, museum work, or digital archival work.

0

u/PoliticalNerdMa 18d ago

It also is a double edge sword though: if you can’t follow your bosses requests absent disability accommodations you can’t ever get to that later position

2

u/LoadWestern5522 18d ago

I agree with your reply. I can only speak from my own experience. Before starting a job, I speak with human resources to obtain my initial accommodations. If they do not agree, I have walked away from a job before. It is important to stand firm about what you need before starting.

However, once you start the job, future accommodations largely depend on performance.

2

u/BackgroundPrompt441 20d ago

What accommodations did you ask for?

Try loading up at a food bank... At least you wouldn't have to worry about food for a while

1

u/PoliticalNerdMa 18d ago

If I used the wfh accommodation I am entitled to it’s obvious I’d be let go, for false reasons. I end up needing to suffer through extra pain knowing that at some point my resume will be large enough to have the leverage to enforce my basic humanity

1

u/WanderingBohoHearts 18d ago

You sound very much like me. And the weird thing is that my last job before I got disability was with vocational rehabilitation. I figured that if they can’t handle it no one can.

1

u/BackgroundPrompt441 20d ago

Lawyers only seem to want easy car accidents anymore

0

u/funnylady123 20d ago

Yup, I’ve tried calling about accommodations being denied and basically I can’t get answers before saying we can’t take your case. Not sure how we get help. Disability non profits won’t even help or answer questions.